Who's doing all the work here?

By Don Bruce, AnimalForum.com staff

That's my cat Addison in the photo. No, I didn't pose him that way. He learned to be lazy on his own. Well, okay, maybe he picked it up from me. But Addison has always been sort of a puppy-cat. Since way back in his kittenhood, Addison has played his own version of "fetch."

He would announce his desire to play fetch by bringing a spider (made from pipecleaners) or a donut (a circular, fabric, ponytail ring) and dropping it at my feet. I would toss the toy across the room, and he would run after it, pounce on it, bat it around until it surrendered, then bring it back to me.

This game kept him happy for a while ... until he realized one day that he was doing all the work.

I don't remember exactly when he pulled the switcheroo, but I eventually noticed that I had started doing all the fetching. Addison achieved this by bringing me a toy, then hopping up on a table (or any elevated surface) and waiting for me to throw the toy to him. He would slap it out of the air and then stare at me, waiting for me to pick it up from the floor and toss it again.

I eventually adapted to this new version of the game by keeping a whole batch of spiders and donuts handy. That way I could toss him a dozen toys before I had to bend over and pick any up. (Hmmmm. Was I really that lazy?)

Then Addison noticed that I wasn't exercising as much, so he adapted his behavior and just watched the toys fly past him. It was a stalemate.

It stayed that way until I discovered a secret weapon that no cat can resist. The dot.

The dot is a laser pointer, a pen that emits a red beam. What Addison sees is a dot (Hey! Is that a bug!?) that runs around the floor and up walls and under furniture. He became addicted to it. He begged for it. Really! He would stare at me until I asked, "What do you want?" Then he would mimic watching the dot move around the floor, turning his head form side to side, before staring back at me.

So now I can sit in my office chair at the center point of our house and send the dot running from the kitchen to the living room to the dining room -- with Addison hot on its trail. He will run until he gets tired, then stand in one place and wait for it to come to him.

That suits me just fine. At least I don't have to do all the work anymore. Although my hand does get tired from pressing that button on the laser pointer...

A word of caution: If you decide to try playing "dot" with your cats, be very careful! The red beam generated by a laser point is extremely bright, and you should never shine it directly into your pet's eyes -- or any human's eyes. You also must be careful not to shine it on glass, mirrors or any shiny surface that could reflect it back into a pet's eyes.